Sparking coil for gas-engines.



No. 743,405. PATENTED NOV. 3, 190-3.

E. J. STOYDDARD. SPARKING COIL FOR GAS ENGINES.

l APPLICATION FILED FEB. 24, 1902.

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UNITED STATES Patented November 3, 19025.

PATENT OFFICE.

ELLIOTT J. STODDARD, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO CHARLES F. BURTON, TRUSTEE, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

SPARKING COIL FOR GAS-ENGINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 743,405, dated November 3, 1903. Application filed February 24,1902. Serial No. 95,238. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELLIOTT J. STODDARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, county of WVayne, State of Michigan, have invented a certain new and useful Improvementin Sparking Coils for Gas'Engines; and I declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the artto which it pertains to make and use the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to sparking coils for gas-engines, especially to coils in which a complete or approximately complete magnetic circuit is employed; and the object of my improvements is to provide an improved coil which may be adapted to be used with different durations of the contact completing the electric circuit. I accomplish this object in the device shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of the coil embodying my invention, and Fig. 2 is a diagraphic representation of the different coils and their electric connection.

A is the base of the coil. To the baseA is secured a U-shaped core B and an armature B. The U-shaped core B is immovably attached to the base A; but the armature B may be moved slightly toward and away from the core 13.

a Z) c d e are coils wound on the core B. These coils are connected in series; but the ends of each of the coils are led out by leading-wires a a a a a to binding-posts A A A A A and the terminal of the wire of which said coils are composed is connected to a binding-post D.

O is a binding-post upon the base A and connected with a post J.

K is a switch-arm pivoted to the post J and adapted to turn to connect said posts with either one of the binding-posts A A A A A.

G is a battery. H is the wire from said battery.

I represents the sparking mechanism interposed in the circuit of which the wire 11 forms a part. The wire H is connected at each end of the core B, so that said core forms a part of the electric circuit, and a current passing through said wire will also pass through said core.

F is a governing mechanism connected to the switch K and adapted to turn said switch to difierent positions.

W is a wheel which may be turned by a belt or cord leading from the gas-engine and which acts to operate the governor F.

M M are lugs extending from the core 13.

N N are lugs extending from the ends of the armature B.

R R are springs interposed between the lugs N N and M M and acting to force the armature away from the core B.

In sparking coils for gas-engines it is generally desirable to have as large self-induction as is consistent with the time of contact of the electric circuit obtainable. If the induction is too large, the energizing-current will not have time to get through the coil, and therefore a good igniting-spark will not be obtained. If the self-induction is too small, the current of the battery will be wasted and the voltage of the sparking current will be too small to produce a good spark. The selfinduction is, speaking generally, proportional to the square of the number of turns of the energizing-coil. When the engine is starting or running slowly, it is desirable to have a large number of turns in the energizing-coil. When the speed of the engine increases, it is necessary to reduce this number. I have therefore provided that more or less coils may be thrown into the battery-circuit by changing the contact by means of the lever or switch-arm K and have secured to this switcharm a governing mechanism to be actuated by the engine, so that at a high speed a few coils will be in the sparking circuit-as, for instance, the coils e--and at a slower speed the lever K will be moved toward the right, as shown in Fig. 1, contacting the different binding-posts A A A A, throwing in the additional coils cl 0 b a successively. Then the energizingcircuit is complete, the armature B is drawn close to the core B, thus making the magnetic circuit nearly complete. When the energizing-circuit is broken, the armature B is forced away from the core B by the springs R R, thus quickly interposin g a larger resistance into the magnetic circuit and assisting thereby to demagnetize the core B B. When the energizing electric circuit is broken, there is a sudden rush of current, which passing through the core B from end to end assists to demagnetize said core.

The entire number of coils may be always connected in circuit with the sparking-points in the engine-cylinder, if desired, while the energizing battery-circuit is made and broken through a variable number of coils by an outside contact, such as shown in my application, Serial No. 64,215, filed June 12, 1901.

What I claim is 1. In asparking coil for gas-engines, a core, a plurality of windings thereon, means for throwing into circuit a larger or smaller number of said windings, means for making the energizingcircuit through said windings, and means for breaking thecircuit to produce the spark.

2. In combination withagas-engine,a sparking coil having a core, a plurality of windings on said core, means for throwing into said circuit a larger or smaller number of said windings and an automatic means operated by said engine for adjusting the number of windings in the circuit to the speed of the engine.

3. In agas-engine ignition system, the combination with an electric circuit and a fixed and a movable electrode therein, and means for separating said electrodes to break the circuit and produce the spark, a core, windings thereon, an armature adapted to move toward or away from said core to lessen or increase the resistance of the magnetic circuit, and means for moving the armature away from the core at the time of said break of the electric circuit.

4. In a sparking coil for gas-engines, a core, a plurality of windings thereon, means for making and breaking the energizing-circuit through a number of windings less than the whole, and means for making and breaking the circuit through the whole number of windings to produce the spark.

In testimony whereof I sign this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

ELLIOTT J. S'lODDARD.

Witnesses:

NETTIE V. BELLES, LOTTA L. HAYTON. 

